I am a Senior Political Contributor at Forbes and the official 'token lefty,' as the title of the page suggests. However, writing from the 'left of center' should not be confused with writing for the left as I often annoy progressives just as much as I upset conservative thinkers. In addition to the pages of Forbes.com, you can find me every Saturday morning on your TV arguing with my more conservative colleagues on "Forbes on Fox" on the Fox News Network and at various other times during the week serving as a liberal talking head on other Fox News and Fox Business Network shows. I also serve as a Democratic strategist with Mercury Public Affairs.

5/02/2011 @ 8:11PM47,486 views

Rush Limbaugh's Sarcasm on Bin Laden Death - Is This Really Entertainment?

While the daily words of Rush Limbaugh can anger as many as those to whom they hold appeal, there is always that footnote suggesting that – at the end of the day- it’s all just entertainment.

But is that really true?

I have to admit that while I have little to recommend when it comes to the venom that spills from Rush’s facile mouth, I have always been appreciative of his broadcasting talent.

Even when Limbaugh pushed it well beyond the limits of anything resembling good taste when he mocked Senator Edward Kennedy upon the man’s death, I tried to remind myself that there is a large segment of the American population who agreed with Limbaugh. If they lacked the human decency to show a little respect at the man’s passing, I suppose it was Limbaugh’s role to speak up for them – even if he furthered his reputation for not possessing an ounce of class in the process.

Today, on this rarest of occasions when all Americans can feel good about a great success accomplished by our government, Limbaugh took the opportunity to mock the president during his radio show.

It seems that Limbaugh believed that the president took too much credit for the successful mission that led to the killing of the world’s public enemy number one and used his sarcasm as the only way he could manage to put a negative spin on such an overwhelming positive event – even to Rush’s cadre of listeners.

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To this obviously left-leaning writer, I would say that I totally disagree with almost everythig he has said here. Rick, are you trying to tell me that your side is so pure and clean that they do not poke fun at their political adversaries? hardly… I have heard many examples of your group’s defaming and destructive “humor”. Believe me, Rush’s humor is mild beside theirs. Maybe YOU All are the ones who need to see a psychiatrist…..

Yes, I am a left-leaning writer. And on the day George Bush – with whom I had very profound disagreements from the moment he took office – stood at Ground Zero, I was proud of him and proud of the country. I did not trivialize him. I did not engage in sarcasm. I did not make fun of him. Such a thing would never have occurred to me under the circumstances.

You are so wrapped up in the game, you no longer have any shred of understanding of what the real game is all about.

Shame on you. And God help us if too many Americans have become so jaded and locked into their ideology that they no longer have the capacity, such as yourself, for telling right from wrong and can only see right and left.

Mr. Ungar ignores an important lesson in leadership. A leader gives the credit to others when things work well and accepts the blame when the best laid plans fail. President Obama takes the credit when things go well and blames others when his plans derail. This is a sad commentary on President Obama’s lack of graciousness and leadership.

And you, Robert1953, apparently did not hear the speech, or, like so many who have completely lost their sense of objectivity, heard it but didn’t ‘hear’ it. Indeed, the president most certainly spread around the credit- most specifically to the extraordinary men who carried out the mission. He included the other people involved in his administration, many by name and, most interestingly – and appropriately I might add – he included President Bush. Did you hear any of that – or maybe you didn’t bother to listen but would prefer to jump on the president at a time when it could not be less appropriate.

Fortunately, men like President Bush and Vice President Cheney, while certainly partisan, have not lost their own sense of what is important as both were very gracious in their words about this administration and the success they have experienced in this matter.

I strive hard to be fair to commenters of all political persuasions. But sometimes, the perspective is so preposterous, I wonder why I bother. LISTEN to the president’s words and stop acting like a horse’s butt. It doesn’t mean you have to like the president any more. It would simply mean that you have the capacity to appreciate good work, no matter who does it.

As for myself, had President Bush-or anyone else- accomplished this important mission, I would have defended any such person with equal zeal. It’s a shame you put your ideology before your country or maybe you would be capable of doing the same.

I lost respect for Rush when after Obama was elected, Rush’s comment was “I hope he fails”. I wasn’t a Bush fan, but his public goals were presumably for the good of the country, and I sure hoped for his success. How Rush can remain so popular when all he does is spew hate I don’t know.

To want to “fundamentally transform” America as Obama pledged means to hate everything about it and destroy the current system and replace it with Euro-style marxism that was even then and is still failing everywhere it has been tried.

To destroy an imperfect but otherwise nearly best healthcare system in the whole world so Obama could spend nearly A BILLION DOLLARS OF OUR TAX MONEY on a website that doesn’t work for a system that is doomed to failure and designed to take us to government controlled single payer.

(BY THEIR OWN ADMISSION. LOOK IT UP).

Do you even KNOW OR CARE that Obamacare has created tens of thousands of more jobs FOR THE IRS and NO ADDITIONAL DOCTORS POSITIONS?

Exactly WHAT good did you think could come from electing someone whose FRIENDS ARE ALL HATERS OF AMERICA AND ENEMIES OF THE ENTIRE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN CAPITALIST WEST?

Are YOU ONE OF THEM and simply stringing everyone on with your “I wasn’t a Bush fan, but…”, or are you simply a politically un-educated fool who never should have been allowed to vote?

The President had about as much to do with this raid and it’s success as I did with the creation of the universe. He sad “go”…that was his contribution. Don’t you find it curious how ABC has had such access to this story and it’s exclusive content? Who is trying to exploit the success of this operation….the president is.

He has shamefully taken credit for something that was the result of the efforts of years of intelligence gathering and military sacrifice. Now he will be taking his show on the road to ground zero. This is the same man who has gone to great lengths to dismantle the very structure that allowed this mission to succeed…..including “enhanced interrogation”.

The point of your commentary was to portray Rush as an entertainer but it most certainly is a miscalculation. Most intelligent people realize Rush is far beyond entertainment!

Those that listen to Rush understand his need to be appealing while presenting the facts. It makes us realize how fabulous Rush is at what he does–and it scares you because you can do nothing but attack him–you are ill-equipped to argue with his content or clever presentation.

Though I fault Rush in a HUGE way on his failure to expose the magnitude of the threat of illegal immigration, open borders, chain migration ala Kennedy style and anchor babies to US sovereignty, he is otherwise an outstanding commentator and resource on many of the issues of the day…

Given that I’m the idiot – maybe you’ll share with us precisely how this president has dismantled the very structure that allowed this mission to succeed? Last those of us living in the real word checked, defense spending is up considerably from where it was when this president began his administration. Clearly, the CIA hasn’t suffered under President Obama, so, which structure are you referring to? See the thing is, when going around calling others idiots, it tends to be a good idea to have some idea what you’re talking about. Your conspiracy involving ABC is definitely over my head – must be because I’m an idiot. I had all the major networks on and, from what I could see, CNN had the story first.